Help me enjoy X-Com

Thanks to this thread, now I am seriously depressed because I CANNOT get Silent Storm running in Vista...

lethial wrote:

Thanks to this thread, now I am seriously depressed because I CANNOT get Silent Storm running in Vista...

Upgrade to Windows 7

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Moondragon *

* - You guys are getting put directly in to PT. Don't think I don't see you walking on the battlefield when I'm telling you to run.

Are you calling me fat? In all seriousness, you're not making me lug the rocket launcher, are you? 'Cause we all know how that ends.

bighoppa wrote:
lethial wrote:

Thanks to this thread, now I am seriously depressed because I CANNOT get Silent Storm running in Vista...

Upgrade to Windows 7 :P

It won't work. It seem to be a problem with the application itself... 1) Silent Storm doesn't recognize newer gfx cards 2) Silent Storm Sentinels can't seem to start, because, among other things, it doesn't like 4GB+ memory...

So I "could" go back to 32-bit OS... But I am not going to... I will just have to man up and play UFO:ET (I keep on saying that I will play it, but I get so scared of it every time I start, with the mods, it can be very difficult... )

Huh, I'll have to dig up my SS CD and see if I can get it running. That would really suck if it didn't work... that game is pure awesome while you're still using guns.

MoonDragon wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

Moondragon *

* - You guys are getting put directly in to PT. Don't think I don't see you walking on the battlefield when I'm telling you to run.

Are you calling me fat? In all seriousness, you're not making me lug the rocket launcher, are you? 'Cause we all know how that ends. :(

You've got the same load out as everyone else. Full suit of armor, 2 disruptor guns (one for each hand as the game doesn't give accuracy penalties and so you get 2x firepower) a grenade, stun grenade, smoke grenade. The real penalties come
I just started you character in PSI Training instead of PT since you in game character is of the half-sectoid variety. So mostly, you're just weak.

So is Podunk enjoying this game yet?

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I just started you character in PSI Training instead of PT since you in game character is of the half-sectoid variety. So mostly, you're just weak. :P

So, you're calling me a p*ssy then?

MoonDragon wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

I just started you character in PSI Training instead of PT since you in game character is of the half-sectoid variety. So mostly, you're just weak. :P

So, you're calling me a p*ssy then?

He would, except for the fact that you gray fat-headed freaks don't have any reproductive organs, so that term isn't really accurate.

But you can wear a pink sweater like a champion!

Wow, I heard about UFO ET a long time ago but didn't pay much attention. It looks cool but how does it play?

Tamren wrote:

Wow, I heard about UFO ET a long time ago but didn't pay much attention. It looks cool but how does it play?

It plays very well, IF YOU INSTALL THE Uni-Mod that I linked earlier. Even after the mod, there are quite a few differences. But it definitely have the X-Com vibe to it. (If you like I can post some of the differences that I noticed).

Be warned though, the modded settings can make the game very tough. For example, the UFOs will come in packs (and sometimes huge swarms which if you defeated you will be rewarded with money), it makes the globe dog fight much more interesting.
Also, you can make X-COM aliens appear in game. And if you like you can make super mobs show up even in early UFO raids...

One feature from the mod that I really liked is that you get a lot of portraits for your recruits (you can add your own too, with some code editing). I just started a new game with the mod, and I am actually here in the thread to get some GWJer names paired up with my all-Celebrity team.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Strewth got the promotion after his CM's death. Don't let his legacy be wasted on another one shot kill.

Strewth *
Moondragon *
Deftly *
* - You guys are getting put directly in to PT. Don't think I don't see you walking on the battlefield when I'm telling you to run. Especially when you're not half way to your way point and your teammates are already there and set up. It should be noted this game offers Physical Training and PSIonic Training.

When you're this important, you lead from the rear and let everyone else clear a path.

Besides, the food is better in the officer's mess.

Thats really neat. Where could I check it out? The main website doesn't have a list of retailers. Any drm?

Tamren wrote:

Thats really neat. Where could I check it out? The main website doesn't have a list of retailers. Any drm?

It is $9.95 from Gamersgate and it doesn't have DRM beyond the initial decryption of the game installer from the Gamersgate download. (FYI: for Gamersgate downloads, after the download is completed and the installer of the game is finished running, select the option to "not delete the temporary files from the installation." Those are the game installer files that you can use to install the game on other PCs.)

Remember to get the patch and the UniMod. If you have questions about the MASSIVE amount of setting options that you will get from the mod, let me know. I can point out the ones that will make your life miserable. (Me? I like to win, and I am a "save/load-whore" so I opt'ed out most of those insane options. )

I also see that GOG just put UFO: Aftershock up (literally). They have had UFO: Aftermath for a while.

I think Aftermath was mentioned earlier, but I've lost track in the midst of the threadsplosion. Remember to use you friendly Goodjer link to purchase.

Captured a Sectoid Leader from a base, made all the more interesting by how it seemed to be constructed to provide easy access for all the other Sectoids and Cyberdisks to bumrush both exit points, but fortunately the control room was close by. I decided a simple snatch and grab was in order; I sent one courageous lady in alone, blasting her way through the outer walls of the lower section of the command center (hooray heavy plasma!), sent her upstairs to stun the leader (hooray mind probe!), back down to avoid the commanders, then back up to finish them off, take out the control computers, then grab the unconscious leader and make a mad dash back to the 'lift. Only suffered one fatality in the other lift thanks to a Sectoid who came up on the one square no one happened to be looking at.

Unfortunately, there's been a setback. Three large ships tried to set down in and around Brazil, a sure sign that an infiltration mission was afoot. I shot down two but couldn't get the third before it landed. I could only send Skyrangers to two of the sites and casualties were high. However, construction has commenced on hyperwave decoders and the secrets of the Sectoid leader shall soon be unlocked, from the location of the alien's main base on Mars to the psionics ability.

My airforce kicks ass. 3 interceptors loaded with plasma beams. Got a hit on radar, supply ship, infiltration. Crap! Interceptor 1 out. Suddenly I get two more contacts, both battleships! Double crap. I scrambled the other two interceptors. The first supply ship was easy to take down thanks to the plasma. The first battleship landed and was boarded! The second proved to be more dangerous. I ended up sending in all three interceptors at once to bum rush the thing. They all went in firing, one of them was damaged and the third hung by a thread. But they managed to shoot it down! Leet.

2 more missions later and I had so much material I had to start selling excess metal.

I almost threw a fit when my interrogation of the Sectoid Leader yielded only psionics, not "Cydonia or Bust." No matter, though, since I had a Sectoid Commander handy and for whatever reason I got that research option. I'll need more time to research enough stuff to the point where I'm ready to go to Mars, but there's been another setback.

I've been noticing lately more and more swarms of ships hovering around areas such as Australia, Brazil (which at the start of September did back out of X-COM), and South Africa. With my hyperwave decoder network not yet done, I could only guess they were on infiltration missions. I couldn't shoot any of them down, but sent in my Skyrangers when they landed. Unfortunately, one eight-man team was ultimately wiped out trying to take on a Muton battleship; I lost a good number of sarges and squaddies. I also lost an interceptor trying to shoot down a Snakeman terror ship, but what's really got me worried is that the Ethereals have shown up. Hopefully I can get my people psi trained soon or else terror missions and base defense will be a nightmare in between the mind control and the Sectopods, which combine the speed of a Chrysalid with the firepower of a small army of Mutons.

Curses! Filthy Britain has made a pact with the aliens! This is doubly irritating because my main base is in Egypt. They snuck a base right into my backyard.

I am slightly frustrated, because it's freaking MARCH and the Aliens have gone straight from scouts and Sectoids to Large Ships and Terrorizing Brasilia, Perth and now Johannesburg. And we JUST started researching Plasma, you colossal douchespigots.

EDIT: I swear, for the umpteenth time this game needs a modern remake. I'd love to go swooping in on a Chinook, taking them on with SCARs and P90s, even if we are still vastly outgunned.

Hah! I finally got my psi labs up and running. Yonder, Elysium, Redneck, Prozac and Evilseed you all have Psi strength scores of 90+. Leet

But not as leet as Tamren. He turned out to have a score of 100! Win!

The rest of the game is now completetly focused on training and equipping Tamren plus his Psi posse.

Tamren wrote:

But not as leet as Tamren. He turned out to have a score of 100! Win! :D

I'm suspicious. I want a official investigation into the renaming of XCOM operatives...

Tamren wrote:

Hah! I finally got my psi labs up and running. Yonder, Elysium, Redneck, Prozac and Evilseed you all have Psi strength scores of 90+. Leet

But not as leet as Tamren. He turned out to have a score of 100! Win!

The rest of the game is now completetly focused on training and equipping Tamren plus his Psi posse.

Am I part of your squad?, that's apocalypse you're playing rigth? I want in if it is : )

Seriously, Apocalypse may have had some shortcomings but I found it to be as rewarding and sometimes even more enjoyable than X-com and TFTD. Great Game.

Tamren wrote:

Curses! Filthy Britain has made a pact with the aliens! This is doubly irritating because my main base is in Egypt. They snuck a base right into my backyard.

Seems to be a consistent theme...maybe our overlords were threatening to blockade tea supplies

davet010 wrote:
Tamren wrote:

Curses! Filthy Britain has made a pact with the aliens! This is doubly irritating because my main base is in Egypt. They snuck a base right into my backyard.

Seems to be a consistent theme...maybe our overlords were threatening to blockade tea supplies

In my experience if you are doing really well the aliens seem to swoop into the the richest country in the area and take them over. It wasn't an issue the first or second game I played, but in all of my subsequent games (based in the center of the US) they swooped in and took over the nation by March or April at the latest.

This game I am based in Europe and I'm interested to see if the same thing happens. If it does I am going to start considering letting some of the smaller UFOs go from time to time. If you already have enough materials and research items on the queue then it may pay off to give your scientists and engineers more preparation time and avoid antagonizing the aliens too much.

Moon Dragon, your physical training is slowly paying off. You're a bit faster in the field. Now, you would probably improve faster if you would stop getting shot in every mission you make it in to. I think it's a miracle most of you are still alive. Thankfully I try to keep you all alive and if you look in danger of dying, I run you to a map exit point.

Mostly, I've been able to keep poppers at bay, except one time I had a guy stun one of the little buggers and it unstunned, blew up on the guy and nearly killed him. I can't remember who it was, though. Poppers are the worst inside a building. If they were in the original xcom, they'd probably have about 150 Time Units each round and all they do is run straight at you really fast and go boom at your feet.

On other fronts, the increased accuracy of the aliens using disruptor cannons, as opposed the the lesser (and what I have available) disruptor guns, is really making things tough. Especially now that they decided to break out a energy shield or two on each mission.

Flashback to Apocalypse: Laying prone two abreast, with two crouched behind, disruptors at the ready, and tossing a few of those organic, leaping grenades into an open battleship door. Then, just waiting... Waiting for those little buggers to slink off into the hold of that ship towards what must be a multicolored monster defecating itself. Waiting for the good solid booms, and then leapfrogging into the ship. That felt like payback for every squaddie that dropped at the silver sliding door in UFO.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Moon Dragon, your physical training is slowly paying off. You're a bit faster in the field. Now, you would probably improve faster if you would stop getting shot in every mission you make it in to. I think it's a miracle most of you are still alive. Thankfully I try to keep you all alive and if you look in danger of dying, I run you to a map exit point.

Well, Commander, I would like to take this time to respectfully bring your attention to my repeated requests for a new uniform. This pink sweater, while nice and warm, is making things in the field a little difficult.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

You'll get your orders before the next mission. Not get down and give me 20!

Yessir! *drags his butt slooowly to a corner*

Oooooooooooone......
Twooooooooooooo...........